starting point this morning. president obama and governor romney run with just literally 13 days left. they're zeroed in on a handful of states that could make all the difference. president kicking off a two-day campaign marathon beginning with a rally in davenport, iowa. then off to denver, colorado, then a stop at l.a. for a taping of the tonight show, then finally a late-night event in las vegas. governor romney's campaign events today in reno, nevada, cedar rapids iowa. dana bash is following the fight to the finish. good morning. >> what you're saying right now on the campaign trail is these candidates with their closing arguments trying to do something that's not so easy. appeal to the small sliver of undecided voters that are still out there. but also, rev up the base. and so you're seeing kind of a -- in some ways a contradictory message from each of them.

but they're hoping that they reach their targets. listen to some examples. >> four more years like the last four years would continue to have a president playing hide and seek trying to find a plan to get the economy going. to create jobs. this is a president who's -- whose approach to croating jobs is another stimulus. 000 the first one work out? >> you can choose a foreign policy that's reckless and wrong, or you can choose one that is steady and strong. you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for immigrants and gays and women, or in this election, you can decide we will remain an inclusive, generous country. >> now there is a pretty big map of battleground states right now. and you have eight of them. eight battleground states that are really too close to call, soledad. but it not just states like ohio and nevada and iowa and so on. there's also one very

interesting state in the northeast that is never a battleground because it's always democratic and that's the state of maine. the romney super pac is running an ad in maine. why is that? the way the state distributes their electoral votes it's by congressional district. there's a very conservative congressional district that could provide republicans one electoral vote and if it is that tight that could matter. >> interesting. wow. >> wow, maine. >> republicans kind of raised their hands and said maybe we should go up there. >> four years ago, there was one congressional district in nebraska, which is the only other state to do it. >> there's a new obama ad out today. tell me about that. >> this really speaks to the idea that the obama campaign is desperate to get every single democrat out, even those who are maybe ho-hum about going to the polls. they're reminding democrats about what happened in,000 and how they felt about it. watch this. >> 537. the number of votes that changed

the course of american history. >> florida is too close to call. >> the difference between what was, and what could have been. so this year, if you're thinking that your vote doesn't count, that it won't matter, well, back then, there were probably at least 537 people who felt the same way. >> a reminder to everybody out there that every vote does matter. and way to kind of send chills up the spine of every democrat who still has not gotten over that loss in 2000. you know to get them to go out and knock on maybe one more door, make one more phone call, convince their aunt that doesn't feel like going out to vote that they really should go out to vote. that's what that's about. >> an indication, i think, that bothampaigns are thinking that this could really not be decided on election night. >> certain democratic voters says don't let people steal this election. that's what the message is. >> they got everybody back. that's interesting. dana, thank you very much. john's got a look at some of the other stories making news.

>> no comment from the white house yet about new e-mails detailing information about last month's deadly assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. according to those e-mails the white house and the state department were informed a militant islamic group had claimed credit for the attack, two hours after it began. and u.s. diplomats were providing details to officials in washington while it was happening. now, in a moment we're going to get reaction from congressman mike rogers who ishe chairman of the house intelligence committee. a massive document dump reveals the state of massachusetts knew about reports that necc was breaking prescription laws over the past decade. the documents show complaints from doctors and even complaints from officials in iowa, wisconsin and texas. but massachusetts failed to take tough action. necc is behind a nationwide meningitis outbreak now up to 304 cases and four other infections, including 23 deaths in 17 states. a deadly shark attack off the coast of santa barbara in california. police say the victim was an expert surfer. he was riding the waves with

friends off the santa barbara coast near vandenberg air force base when he was bitten in the upper torso. friends tried to rescue him but they were unable to. tropical storm sandy is gaining strength. it isn't a hurricane just yet but it is expected to become one soon, as it bears down on jamaica later today. a hurricane warning is in effect there, and in some provinces in central and eastern cuba, as well. later this morning montego bay airport will close. also a tropical storm watch is in effect for southeastern florida in the northeastern keys. rob marciano told us a little while ago this may be a storm we have to watch on the northeast, and the east coast of the u.s. coming up later next week. a powerful 6.5 magnitude earthquake in western costa rica centered about five miles from the tourist destination of nicoya. the quake struck around 7:30 last night local time and could be felt 90 miles away. it was followed by a 4.5 aftershock. no word yet of any injuries. smaller and pricier.

apple is hoping that this formula will be a hit after introducing its new ipad mini. the company's razor thin tablet has a 7.9 inch screen, front and rear cameras, and weighs about 0.68 pounds. the starting price $329 which is pricier than some competitors. wall street does not seem impressed so far. apple shares are down more than 3% since the company made the price public. >> that's interesting. >> costs about $100 more than the competitors the kindle and nook and samsung. >> i don't know. i don't know if i'd get one. >> i'm not sure. the ipad is not so big. it fits in most purses. especially the purses we carry. >> the large bags we carry. all right, john, thank you. there are some new e-mails, we were just talking about that in your news update, obtained by cnn, providing some detail about the deadly september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi showing the white house and the state department were informed about an islamic

military group taking the responsibility for the assault two hours after that assault began. want to take a look at some of those e-mails. they were sent between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. eastern time on the day of the attack. here's the first one. quote, a diplomatic mission is under attack. embassy tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots, explosions have been heard, as well. ambassador stevens, who is currently in benghazi, and four com personnel are in the compound safe haven. embassy tripoli reports the firing at the u.s. diplomatic mission in benghazi has stopped and the compound has been cleared. a response team on site is on site attempting to locate the com personnel. and this one, embassy tripoli reports the group ansar al sharia claimed responsibility on facebook and twitter and has called for an attack on embassy tripoli. let's get right to republican congressman mike rogers of michigan. he's the chairman of the house intelligence committee. it's nice to see you, sir. thank you very much for talking with us. so in these e-mails, we are, i

guess, sort of seeing the event unravel mostly in realtime. when you see these e-mails, what does it tell you? >> well, it's not just these e-mails, it's everything that came before it. so when you look at the entire timeline, soledad, we know that there were threat streams from aqim, al qaeda in the magrab and ansar al sharia, this group that was claiming responsibility that they referenced in the e-mail, is an affiliate of that al qaeda group. and so what we saw was threat streams that 9 embassy, the consulate had been attacked twice before, april and june before that september attack. this was clearly a targeted place, somewhere they wanted to have some terrorist success on the compound. so what you saw in the e-mails in that realtime was a real description, and as you noticed, there was no talk of demonstrations or other things. and it was clearly very early identified with a terrorist affiliate of aqim. >> so let me ask you about that.

how they linked to al qaeda. because i, i know, as you know, that there are some who say that they are, that they're, they're not one and the same. i mean you know for those of us who are not on the sbel committee, clearly, we think of them as this region of bad guys. but al qaeda has sort of leadership structure and other people have said that ansar al sharia is just sort of a label and not so much of a leadership structure. can you walk us through that? >> yeah. what al qaeda, the core group of al qaeda, so osama bin laden, and a guy named zawahiri, and of course osama bin laden is gone and zawahiri has taken his place. that's the core leadership of al qaeda. those were the original folks who brought up together and found groups that would join and swear allegiance to the leadership of al qaeda. so that's -- that core group. then you have al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which was an affiliate group that joined al qaeda. and pledged allegiance to them. and about '06, al qaeda in the

magreb, which was not direct al qaeda affiliate then joined al qaeda and swore allegiance to that core group. so, what you have is these different affiliate groups, who are engaged in terrorism, and have been prior to this, who have sworn allegiance to the principles of that core group. so it's -- they're affiliated. they have the same goals, the same aims. sometimes they'll take direction. sometimes they won't, from the core group. but they all engage in the same tactics, same principles, and still want, at the end of the day, the -- they cover all of northern africa, southern europe, the middle east. that's what they're stated and intended goal is. and ansar al sharia basically means protector of islam. so they have sworn an oath to do that. so they are that extremist, jihadist group. all of them continue to be dangerous. and the interesting thing,

again, soledad, is we also know now that on the 13th of september, there was what we believe is probably an affiliated of al qaeda attack the u.s. embassy in tunisia. four dead, not americans, and they also hit the american school there. nobody's really talking about it. but that tells you the level of coordination and of sheer interest in trying to hit western targets. >> so let's talk about that a little bit, if we can. i want to go through some reports. earlier we were talking about, talking about the "l.a. times" report, which said this, i'll piece of it, said the assault on the u.s. diplomatic mission in benghazi last month appears to have been an opportunistic attack rather than a long-planned operation. an intelligence agencies have found no evidence that it was ordered by al qaeda. according to u.s. officials, and witnesses interviewed in libya. this was an article on october 19th. and then, i'll give you "the wall street journal" one, we could talk about, excuse me, both. "wall street journal," president barack obama was told in his daily intelligence briefing for more than a week after the

consulate siege in benghazi that the assault grew out of a spontaneous protest, despite conflicting reports from witnesses and other sources that began to cast doubt on the accuracy of that assessment almost from the start. so, is this the "l.a. times" is wrong? is it "the wall street journal" is wrong? is it they're both right? is it just so confusing that everybody could be right in this? explain those two reports to me. >> yeah. it's -- this is pretty interesting. i think somebody latched onto what they wanted to hear in intelligence that was provided. remember, if you're an analyst and you do this for a living, you see all of this threat information about the consulate long before the september 11th attack on the consulate. we know twice that it's been attacked. which it tells you, by the way, al qaeda sponsored events, they want to -- they'll continue hitting the target until they're successful. we saw that with the twin towers in the '93 attack, and then if successful 9/11 attack in 2000. their success, not ours. and so you take a look at all of that stream of information, and

then these e-mails that you just highlighted, it's really difficult to come to the conclusion up front that it was a spontaneous, not planned, part of a protest when none of that was in the early hours of reporting. so we're still trying to figure out what happened. what i believe happened, soledad, is that somebody saw something that they thought was the way that they wanted to talk about it, versus what the facts on the ground were. because think about it, even when that narrative was starting to develop, oh, this was spontaneous, it wasn't planned, it wasn't really a terrorist attack, on september 13th, we had another jihadist attack on an embassy in tunisia. it was very serious, four people killed, again not americans, we had to evacuate the embassy, and they also went and stormed the american school there. so you see this pattern of activity is really hard to come to this conclusion that was just spontaneous, and just kind of happened. so that's what we're trying to figure out. and why this is important, not because who did what when is a

problem here. it's about the fact that decisions were made, big policy decisions, including elevating the video that, if you listen to those e-mail or read those e-mails, nothing about the video, it elevated the video and actually caused more protests across the middle east. >> at the same time, though, we know that there were a list of countries in which the video was triggering, i mean in the context of all of that at the same time there were protests that, that reporting show that the video had been involved. it seems slightly confusing. congressman rogers we're out of time. but i thank you for your insight this morning. chair of the intelligence committee and romney campaign surrogate i should mention as well. we've got to take a break this morning on "starting point." we're going to take a look at the fall classic. s tigers taking on the giants in the world series. who is most likely to take home the ring? we're going to talk to the host of espn's mike and mike in the morning coming up next. and fake letters sent to voters in one crucial state questioning their citizenship and registration just days before the election. we'll tell you what you need to

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welcome back, everybody. the san francisco giants headed to game one of the world series tonight after a stunning game seven victory over the st. louis cardinals on monday night. they're going to face off against the detroit tigers and their ace starting pitcher, the reigning american league mvp justin verlander. the team has been scrimmaging against minor league prospects to keep their skills sharp during their week off. joined by the most of "mike & mike" in the morning. nice to see you, gentlemen. i'm curious if you think it's better to be rested up, or to be, you know, in momentum playing against, you know, a, a great series. which is the better option, do you think? >> well, in kwolic's world of football the rest helps. there's a lot of injury factor so getting guys back healthy and getting downtime is an advantage. in baseball it is a distinct disadvantage. for six months these guys are

accustomed to the rith up of playing every single day. two days off is an unusual circumstance. five or six days off like the tigers have right now is a huge disadvantage. >> the team that's had the longer layoff has lost the last five of six world series. so while you could spin it either way, you know, and make -- and justify it for your team, i do think in this case the more you keep playing closer to the world series, the better off you're going to be. >> okay, so let's say you're saying the tigers go in with a disadvantage. lay out for me what kind of -- we're going to see in this game. >> verlander is the best pitcher on the planet. that's the tigers big advantage. i heard you say soledad you're a yankees fan. you saw what the tiger pitchers did to your -- >> just kidding. >> -- next year. >> yes. >> but obviously their pitching was dominating in that series and verlander is the leader of it. he is the best pitcher on the planet and i think they're depending on him big-time to set the tone. spin it the other way. if the giants should ever beat

verlander in game one, think how much momentum swings their way. >> i think detroit is favored in this because of ver lander. but seeing what the giants did six times with their backs against the wall in the last two series, there are those who believe in the baseball gods, that faith is just with them. i don't buy into any of that. i believe in execution on the field and i think detroit is the better team. >> i used to believe in the baseball gods, too, awhile back. back to my yankees. a quick question for you, you heard what brian cashman was saying about a-rod. traded or not? >> absolutely not. they have nowhere to send him. he will be back. 9 yankees will come back almost exactly the same. >> why trade him and also give away maybe $90 million, as well? pay him to go away that much? not going to happen. >> nice to see you guys. thank you. still ahead this morning on "starting point," todd akin kind of has a little company. listen to this.

>> even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. >> that's republican senate candidate taking some heat for saying that pregnancies by rain are intended by god. we'll discuss that straight ahead on "starting point." ughou. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. two. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2% back on groceries. [ all ] 3% on gas! no hoops to jump through.

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welcome back to "starting point." looking at some stop torys. barnes & noble is warning customers who shopped 63 of its stores that their credit card information may have been stolen. if you shopped at barnes & noble before september 14th, it's a good idea to change your p.i.n. number and check your statement. stores in nine states were affected. after spending a ton of cash and finishing last in the national league east the miami marlins have fired manager ozzie

guillen. guillen's first and only season managing the marlins. the team's poor performance wasn't the only reason for his dismissal. team officials say guillen's controversial marks last april, you may remember them, when he praised fidel castro, those remarks also played a role. >> not surprised. along with dana bash this morning our team includes will cain. we've already been arguing. don't be so sensitive. he's a columnist. roland martin is going to be joining us in just a moment. john berman has been helping us out this morning. our get real this morning, question about a lack of sensitivity toward a victim of rape. first missouri senate candidate republican todd akin who talked about legitimate rape. you'll remember that. and now an indiana republican senate candidate richard mourdock says he believes pregnancies resulting from rape are a gift from god. here's what he said last night, the last minutes of the debate. >> i believe that life begins at

conception. the only exception i have for -- to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. i just -- i struggled with it myself for a long time. i came to realize life is a gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. >> so mourdock clarified his comments afterwards saying god creates life, and that was my point. god does not want rape and by no means was i suggesting that he does. rape is a horrible thing and for anyone who twists my words otherwise is absurd and sick. >> first and foremost, just because any chance that democrats, in particular, have to whack republicans on the issue -- on an issue that could draw women or draw women away from republicans, they're going to do it. in this particular rape, he made the connection between this and todd akin's comments, i talked to a senior republican strategist who is kind of monitoring this to get a sense of the fallout, and this source

says that they don't think that this is that similar to akin for one main reason. what he was doing was describing his very well-publicized view on abortion. that it should not -- that the exception should not be there for rape. and that many republicans agree with that. especially in the very conservative state of indiana. very different from what todd akin said which is that somehow people's bodies can reject pregnancy from rape, which, you know, virtually nobody believes. that's number one. don't expect republicans to throw mourdock under the bus like they did akin. this is a very, very different issue. >> governor romney has, i think, put out an ad supporting richard mourdock and he had a tough fight as a tea party candidate at first to get exception from the gop and now he, he's struggling a little bit. what do you think -- >> politically i hope this isn't an issue. i don't think this is an appropriate conversation to have to the political end. will it have an impact politically? that's depends how it's spun. i don't want to partake in the spin.

the question that mourdock -- >> did you just say as a political analyst you don't want to partake in the spin? >> would you run it under my face, please? the question is this, dana said it, it's true. this is not so much what akin said. akin redefined the concept of rape and went into biological, medical procedures, and mysteries. what mourdock suggested here is that he's not saying god wanted rape. god, he's saying, sanctions life. and if you believe life begins at conception, either through religion or logic, then how that life is created is beside the point. >> let me ask a follow-up to that. i know you love the logic argument. why make an exception for the life of the mother. if you are saying that morally an abortion is killing something that is alive at the moment of conception, at the end of the day isn't it like, well -- >> now you're pitting two lives against each other. now you're forced to choose the value between two lives. >> and that's morally acceptable? >> it's a moral conundrum. the other equation is not.

>> the problem with faith-based perspective. the difference between what is god's will, and what is free will. if you're sitting here trying to say oh, if you got raped it was god's will for you to have that child, so, are you saying that, oh, it's okay it happened so go ahead and move forward. frankly, as a christian, as an evangelical, i'm not buying that argument and i would ask him the question, if your daughter got raped, are you telling me that you would be fine with her having that child? >> we can invite everyone to e-mail us and tweet us because i think this is part of a bigger conversation. will and i talked. we should do a 30-minute show on this at some point. >> yeah. >> before we move on however at this moment. they're yelling at me in my ear. ahead this morning on "starting point," remember the number nine. that is the number of states that could decide the entire election just 13 days away now. one of those battleground states is the state of florida. we're going to talk to florida congressman mario diaz-balart coming up next. and the gangnam getting

diplomatic. it's now reached the united nations only a month after -- we'll explain. you haven't seen this? >> no. >> will -- >> oh, my goodness. >> oh, my god. back in just a moment. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

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welcome back. you're watching "starting point." what did they know and when did they know it? so far the white house isn't commenting on those new details emerging from last month's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. according to e-mails obtained by cnn, the state department and the white house were told about an islamic militant group taking responsibility for the assault just two hours after that assault began. in one of those e-mails u.s. diplomats told officials in washington the group ansar al sharia claimed credit on facebook and on twitter and was calling for another attack on the embassy in tripoli. foreign affairs reporter elise labott is live from washington, d.c. this morning. so walk us through, if you will, elise, this e-mail chain that we now know. >> soledad, these are the first

communications that we've seen coming from the administration about what was happening in the attack in no this first e-mail comes from the state department operations center, to people in the white house situation room, the pentagon, the fbi, and it's at about 10:00 tripoli time, 4:00 eastern time, saying u.s. tripoli -- u.s. benghazi under attack, embassy tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots, explosions have been heard, as well. ambassador stevens, who is currently in benghazi, and four mission personnel are in the compound safe haven. the 17th of february militia is providing security support. now, soledad, the next e-mail, which came out about a half hour later, said that the shots had stopped, and that all was actually calm, and you know, response team was trying to locate those personnel. but we now understand that those militants had actually breached the compound walls and had set

fire to that main building of the compound, where chris stevens and sean smith died. and that last e-mail about responsibility. so what it shows is that even the night of the attack, there were indications that this extremist group, an al qaeda affiliate, could be involved, soledad. >> interesting. thanks for that. we appreciate the update. john berman has an update on our day's top stories, as well. >> convicted serial pedophile jerry sandusky is undergoing a physical and mental evaluation at a new pennsylvania prison. he was transferred to state lockup at camp hill yesterday. the former penn state coach shouldn't get too comfortable there, though. after evaluation he'll be moved to another state prison to serve out the rest of his 30 to 60-year sentence. coming up in our next hour, cnn contributor and pulitzer prize winning reporter sara ganim will join us. she broke the sandusky story. she's going to have new details of a book "victim number one."

michael skakel hoping to be released from prison when he goes before a parole board today. he's served half of a 0-year sentence for the murder of martha moxley. pope benedict naming six new cardinals this morning. the surprise announcement comes during the pope's weekly general audience at the vatican. the cardinals come from lebanon, the philippines, my year yeah, colombia, india and the u.s. among those selected monsignor james harvey, the american prefect of the pope's household. the new cardinals will be elevated on november 24th. less than two weeks before the presidential election, florida investigators are trying to figure out who sent bogus letters to voters questioning their citizenship and registration. florida's secretary of state says people in 23 counties have received the letters, which are written on fake supervisor of election letterhead. they have no return address but they do carry a postmark from seattle, washington. with more than half the billion hits on youtube it is a

bona fide global hit, being that will cain has never seen it. now even the u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon is doing it gangnam style. check it out the rapper, the south korean rapper showed his fellow countrymen some moves yesterday. secretary-general joked that he's a little jealous since he's not the most famous korean in the world anymore. but he is the best dressed. >> not the most famous korean. that's the lpga tour. >> remember the macarena? >> yes. >> the macarena needs to end very, very soon. >> i'm not doing that dance ever, sorry. >> needs to end. >> ahead on "starting point," battleground, florida. the latest cnn polling there shows it's an absolute toss-up. it's one of nine states that could decide the entire election. florida congressman mario diaz-balart is going to join us next to talk a little bit about how he thinks it's going to go down in his state. and the queen of qvc, entrepreneur lori greiner knows

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phillips'.

welcome, everybody. you're watching "starting point." just 13 days until the election. laser-like focus on a handful of battleground states. by cnn's count there are nine toss-up states where the election will be decided. you can see them in yellow, nevada, colorado, iowa, wisconsin, ohio, virginia, north carolina, florida, and new hampshire. republican congressman mario diaz-balart advises mitt romney on foreign policy and he's from one of those states i just listed. the state of florida. it's nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us this morning.

>> thank you, soledad. >> let's begin with what nate silver says in "the new york times." romney is the definitive favorite in florida. are you as confident add nate sounds in a win for mitt romney in your state? >> florida is always going to be tight. i feel very confident that governor romney is going to win florida. not only do you see the changing of the polls. you just feel it out there. people are concerned about where we're headed and they see mitt romney and somebody who can fix the economy. >> you see what i see is really interesting? we've been talking about polls over the last week. let me throw this one up, a cnn/orc poll that breaks it down to white and nonwhite in the state of florida. white vote is mitt romney would get 61% according to our polling. and president obama 35%. if you look at nonwhites, mitt romney takes 24% of the nonwhite vote, president obama 74%. let's focus on that 24% number. how worried is the gop in general about that? not just for this election but in general. you extrapolate out our nation

is getting more diverse, that's got to be a worriship number for you. >> i think that the democratic party has done a very good job with their speeches, with their rhetoric and trying to attract minority voters. and i think the republican party has not done as good of a job. however, i think ultimately, what it's going to boil down to is policy. and who has the best plan to fix the economy, create jobs. i think you're going to see those numbers changing. we've seen them getting better for governor romney, getting worse for the president. i think you're going to continue to see that trend. but clearly, i think the republican jobs in the last few years has not done a great job in explaining what the policies are, and how they benefit the american people. but i think what people are also understanding is that regardless of explanations, or rhetoric, that the policies that we're on right now frankly have not worked and we can do a better job and that our children and our grandchildren deserve a better future, which is why i think ultimately, governor romney's going to win florida. i think he's going to win a

little bit stronger than some are predicting right now. >> congressman, it's dana bash here in new york. you say that it's the rhetoric, not the policies. but if you look at florida, maybe you're right, let's just say that you're right that governor romney is going to do well there. look at the state of nevada, where republicans think that they're probably not going to win there. and one of the primary reasons is because latinos in that state are just fed up with republicans. not so much on rhetoric, but because of the policies how do you fix that in your party and how frustrated are you? >> i'm not quite sure if it is policies and i'll tell you why. remember that the president's been very good. he promised in his first 12 months, he gave his word, to the country, and to the latino population in the country in particular that within the first 12 months he was going to do comprehensive immigration reform. he didn't do it. but by the way, look, look at senator reid's election. he did exceedingly well latino population because he promised he was going to present and pass the dream act. he did it. he did a version of it, by the way, without talking to anybody else.

but then after that, after the election, he doesn't mention it anymore. he doesn't do it anymore. he hasn't even proposed it anymore. so we see this time and time again. so it really is rhetoric. it's not policy. on the policies, look at the increase in poverty. the group of kids, children, the largest group of children in poverty in the united states, you know what they are? they are the latino children. >> which brings us back to -- >> that's a reality. so the policies have not been good. it's the rhetoric that has been better on the side of the democratic party. >> first i want to jump in there for a second. i did a documentary on this very thing. right the latino vote in the state of nevada and, and what you actually hear, on both sides, is the, the rhetoric about immigration, it really does come down to in the state of nevada heavily the issue is immigration policy. so it's, it's, it's -- it is, i think, a policy issue specifically centered around immigration. >> well, again, look, clearly that is the issue. i mean that's where the divide is. but, unfortunately, the

president has not been very good on that issue. look at the number of families that have been broken up under this administration. hispanic families. it's the greatest in the history of the country. if you look at the deportations of latinos it's the largest in the history of this country. but the rhetoric has been very, very good. and unfortunately the rhetoric of some of the rhetoric coming from some members of the republican party, most of which are gone, has been very destructive. that's why i go back to on immigration, what has the president done? he hasn't done what he promised. but his rhetoric has been very good. on that count, on that count, neither republicans or democrats have been great with the exception of the law which realized half a million hispanics, by the way, i'm very proud that was by a republican, my brother congressman lincoln diaz-balart. >> a shout-out to your brother on the air. >> absolutely. >> roland -- >> i've got to ask real quick, during one of the cnn republican

debates, the question was asked, what would you do to attract latinos to the gop, and mitt romney and others, went on a long conversation about building a wall. to me that shows something when it's a softball question, but they talked about a wall, versus actually how do you attract latinos to the gop. >> the reality, again, that's why it's rhetoric. the policies, for latinos, from this administration, are what? the poverty level increase, children in poverty now the largest number of latinos, right, right, right, so the policies among latinos from this administration have been horrendous. >> what i'm telling you is that the rhetoric, the rhetoric from the democrats have been much better to try to attract that vote and the rhetoric from the republicans has not been that good, however, when you look at the policies, when you look at the policies. you tell me if you think it's acceptable that, that, that the

poverty level among children, hispanic children, has risen dramatically. has that helped the latino community? no. the policies from this administration have been destructive, particularly to hispanic children. and that's why i think ultimately, in the state of florida and elsewhere, when people start focusing, and they are, they're going to look at do our children and grandchildren deserve this? or do they deserve a better, brighter future, which has always been what the united states provides. that's why i think you're going to see those numbers, frankly, that gap shrink as the days go by. >> we will certainly be looking at that congressman mario diaz-balart. thank you for talking with us. appreciate it. >> good to see you. good morning. >> still ahead on "starting point," she's a shark in the business world. and for good reason. lori greiner is one of the stars of "shark tank" and she's got success secrets to share with us this morning. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news

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hall of fame catcher carlton fisk had some explaining to do after police found him passed out behind the wheel of his pickup truck in a cornfield. after refusing to take a test -- bbc world service polled people in 21 countries. on average, 50% of those favored preferred president obama, 9% favored mitt romney. the those countries have zero electoral votes.

>> what if they threw in another name? >> gary johnson finally gets -- >> like puttin. >> i was thinking beyonce. >> soledad. >> yes. maybe she would do better. "shark tank," popular reality tv show about deal making is now in its fourth season. fourth season, wow! wealthy sharks get their own money to fund ideas pitched to them by regular people. it leads to some very interesting preparations. >> what you're currently tasting is an array of back nine buffalo chicken dips. wing sauces, dipping sauces, blend them together, to create everything you would get in a chicken wing on a chip. >> this is basically a chicken slurpie. >> protein-based dip. >> i have to say it's delicious. >> was it really? that was lori greiner.

sometimes called the warm bloded shark, also known as the queen of qvc, creator of more than 300 products. was that really good? it sounded disgusting. >> it depended on who was eating it. if you loiked that kind of thing, you liked it. the other male sharks did not really like it. >> did you invest? >> i thought it was pretty good. i did invest. i did invest. >> so how do you know how to pick? what resonates for you? because you're really, really good at it in your own life. what do you see presented that makes say winner, loser? >> i look at two things. what is the product or the business? is it something i feel in my gut is going to go far? i've had a lot of years. i've had 16 years and 400 products that are successful created. intuitively know now what is go good. a lot of things you can't sell to a mass market. is it something that the market of people are going to want? what will it cost to make? what will they pay for it?

if it fits these things, i can get it out there. but it's also the person. >> let me run a little chunk of something called nail pack. here is the nail pack pitch. >> i've been in the shopping world, shopping channel world for 15 years. you talk like it's nothing. most people fail that go on. >> not me. i don't fail. >> yeah, you will fail. you know nothing about nail polish. >> i'm not going to sell it. barbara is going to sell it. >> you can't just call up aa buyer and say hey -- >> we take the 10,000 units shall put it in duty-free, put the rest in avon. >> they talk like it's so easy and you know it's not. >> i have start twod businesses, succeeded and failed and i've heard from venture capitalists exactly what you just said. we bet on jockeys, not on horses. it's about the people, right? i read a book called "sonic boom." it was great. it had a quote, do you know what word i avoid in investing?

pioneers. i don't want to come near pioneers. the first guy through the gate always dies. do you believe that, it's better to be second? it's better to be facebook than myspace. >> no, i don't agree with that. i believe if you have something great, it's great. i was a pioneer. look where i am today. it's a combination. it's like the perfect storm. you have to have a great idea or product. if it's unique, it helps. and i think that if you're a great person, it helps. you have to have somebody with passion and drive and enthusiasm. they're going to live it 24/7. that's what it takes to make a successful business. >> i have a small business, media company. what amazes me, you have folks that have great ideas but don't understand the other aspects of business. if you're good aat this, get somebody who knows accounting or marketing because you can't do all of those things. >> as a general rule, that's

smart. you asked me do i agree with that? not always necessary ily. i had a journalism background. i didn't stay in my lane. i went out of my lane and figured it out. >> we love the new lap that you're in now. it's awesome to watch you. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you so much. >> we'll take a short break and we are back in just a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪

hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

morning. welcome, everybody. you're watching "starting point." the final push to win the battleground states, president obama, governor romney making their final appeals. >> you can choz a foreign policy that's reckless and wrong or you can choose one that's steady and strong. >> he calls his campaign slogan forward. i think forewarned is a better term. >> we'll talk with democratic ohio governor, former governor ted strickland.

saying pregnancies cause bid rape are intended by god, it's been lighting up my twitter. we'll talk about that, straight ahead. bracing for tropical storm sandy, barreling through the caribbean. is the u.s. in its path? woel talk about that. apple is out with its own version, ipad mini. will the big gamble pay off? it's wednesday, october 24th. "starting point" begins right now. morning, morning, welcome, welcome. our team, roland martin, host of washington watch with roland martin is what i'm trying to say. dana bash, cnn correspondent. john berman, host of "early start" along with zoraida sambolin. and will cain. and until election day, we'll be

talking about every single day politics. >> just a little bit. >> how many voter can candidates reach in swing states is what it's coming down to. reno, nevada, and later this evening he will be in cedar rapids, iowa. president obama is kicking off a two-day, round-the-clock tour through six states, rally in davenpo davenport, iowa, denver, colorado, then to l.a. to tape "the tonight show" then to vegas. the tour ends tomorrow in ohio. we are joined by the former governor of this state, state of ohio, ted strickland, national chair for the obama campaign. good morning, sir. thank you for joining us. >> good morning. >> i want to start with a tracking poll from abc news. it looks like this between october 19th and 22nd. this is prethird debate, i should mention. governor romney is winning the tracking poll 49% to 48%. the sampling error is plus or minus throw points. if you look at the poll in virginia, important state as

dana was just telling us, governor romney winning there by one point, sampling error is plus or minus four points there. that's from the american research group, i should point out. quinnipiac, that one in colorado, governor romney winning there 48% to president obama's 47%, sampling here or there is plus or minus 3%. in your own state, ohio, likely choice, look aat the numbers. president obama now at 50% prethe debates, first two. he was at 53%. that's a drop of three points. governor romney is now at 45%. pret the debates he was at 43%. i could go on and on. some of these polls have dire numbers in there for you. how worried are you about this? you're laughing. >> i think we're in good shape in ohio. yes. you know, early voting is going very well here in ohio. the president is doing very well in the early voting. we believe we've got a small,

but a very meaningful load. i know of no polls that have ever had governor romney leading in ohio. the president has been here, will be here thursday night, back in cleveland. and there's a wonderful ground operation here for the obama campaign. i've never seen anything like it. i think ohio will stay in the obama camp. if ohio does that, then it's going to be really tough for mitt romney to win this election. >> and that's kind of -- that's a decent size if, i think, on that, sir. >> i want to ask dana the question. the governor brings up early voting. whoa heard recently that president obama will go to illinois, take time out of his campaign trip to register an early voting ballot. does that tell you that the campaign feels good about where they are in early voting process? >> i'm not sure if it's that -- >> hold on one second, governor. we'll get to you. >> i actually want to hear what the governor says. my perspective is that it's show

and tell. >> that's what i'm wondering. >> remember, i'm voting. everybody can do it right now. everybody realizes, oh, well, especially in states like ohio. >> governor strickland, one in five have voted. really good stats for the democrats there, two-thirds roughly are democratic votes, 63%. >> yeah. that's right. i'm voting this afternoon, by the way. i urge all ohioans to get out if they haven't voted to do this. i think this early voting could really make the difference in a state like ohio, because it gives us time to really communicate with the voter, to urge them to get out, to talk to them about the importance of this vote. and people are responding, well over 800,000 people have already voted in ohio. we expect that number to fellows dramatically during the next couple of weeks. and i think that could very well -- you know, when the final votes are counted, they're all clustered together.

i think this early voting effort and the ground operation could really make the difference in ohio. as i -- i repeat myself, soledad. i've never seen anything like this. it is a massive effort. it's well organized, well coordinated and it's having an effect. >> white working class women, that seems to be the target of president obama as well as mitt romney. >> yes. >> and that's the group that seems to be going back and forth trying to decide which way they go. how does the president make the argument to woit work iing midd class women? >> there are a lot of middle class folks in ohio that mitt romney talked so disparagingly about in that videotape. and especially women have a high stake in this election. and, quite frankly, mitt romney has yet to acknowledge that he would support equal pay for equal work. i think that issue -- that single issue should really be

the determining factor in whether or not women feel like they can trust this guy. if he's not willing to say you deserve equal pay for equal work then how can they trust him in the other matter that may affect their lives? >> governor it's john berman here. the obama campaign just release ed a 19-page booklet called blueprint for america's future. this came out two weeks before election day. too late to release a blueprint for the future? >> new economic patriotism. that's exactly what this president is stressing. jobs in america. bringing jobs from offshore back to our shore. giving incentives to companies that will invest and create jobs here rather than offshore. and i think what we're seeing in this pamphlet that has recently been made available to us is a vision for what the president wants to do going forward. advanced energy. education.

infrastructure. investments in critical research. those are the things that are going to move this country forward. and i think it's a very doable, practical and the president's math adds up, unlike mitt romney's math. the president's math -- >> response to criticism that has come not just from the republicans, but also some people in the media that the president has not been clear about what his plans are, going forward. >> the president has been clear. i think what we're seeing in this pamphlet is just an attempt to pull those ideas together and to present them in an organized m manner, in an organized fashion. the president has been talking about advanced energy since the day he took office. he has been talking about infrastructure. he certainly has been talking about making sure we have the best education system in the world. these are things the president has continuously talked about and put before the american people. and those who say he has no agenda for the future are just

simply wrong or haven't been paying attention. but ohio understands that this president has stood up for us and i believe ohio is going to stand up for him. the auto industry bailout or rescue -- we like to use the word rescue. it was really more of a rescue than a bailout. and the infrastructure. you know, there are important construction jobs under way in ohio right now, major construction jobs that are being partially financed by the stimulus bill. and so ohioans recognize that our unemployment is now 7%. that's due in large part to what this president has done in terms of the auto industry and the stimulus bill that has enabled us to continue to build our infrastructure. we feel optimistic and hopeful in ohio and we're going to reward the president for what he has done for us. >> ted strickland, former governor of ohio. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us.

>> hey, thank you. thanks for having me. >> it's our pleasure. we hope to have him back over the next 13 days, of course. ohio will be a critical state. as you point out, dana, it will be one to watch. they're hopeful that those numbers will hold out for them. and optimism that he talked about. that's the message they're certainly spinning. no comment from the obama administration so far about the latest information from last month's deadly assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. according to e-mails obtained by cnn, the white house and state department were informed a militant islamist group claimed credit for the attack two hours after it began. u.s. diplomats were informing officials in washington about the unfolding assault while it was happening. california surfer killed in a shark attack. the vic was attacked yesterday while surfing with friends off the coast of surf beach near vande vandenburg air force base. he was bitten by the shark in the upper tore so.

friends tried to save him but couldn't. tropical storm sandy. central and eastern cuba, later this morning montego bay airport is expected to close. kingston airport closed last night. tropical storm watch has been issued for southeastern florida and the northern keys. data breach at barnes & noble to tell you about this morning. credit card information from 63 stores is at risk. the breeach was through pin devices, connecticut, new jersey, pennsylvania, rhode island, new york, illinois, california and florida. the detroit tigers are the favorites entering the game one world series against the san francisco giants tonight. tigers give the ball to justin verlander, the detroit aace who

has a 100-mile-per-hour fastball, pretty mean curve and changeup also. the giants now 6-0. >> he's on fire. god shall that annoys me. >> giants are 6-0 in the postseason, sending lefty barry zito to the hill. has a nice curveball, mr. zito does. scheduled 8:00 eastern tonight. >> such a comeback for him. that guy was left for dead. now he's back, pitching game one of the series. >> love a comeback. >> yes, we do. steve jobs once ridiculed small tablets as tweeners. but now ipad is out with its own version, the ipad mini. will that gamble pay off? [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time,

and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

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is smaller better? apple is certainly hoping so, unveiling its new mini yesterday. weighs less than a pound. starts, though, at $329. it ain't cheap. the comparisons to other smaller competitors is already heating up. here to give us his take on the new ipad mini is the editor of wired magazine. jason taylor. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> it's getting uh reviews. why? >> for that you can get a nexus 7, kindle fire with similar specs. you're really paying an apple premium, which apple customers can be used to. xourts are usually more expensive. ipads have been very prois competitive. this is the first ipad model

that's considerably more expensive than other models. >> why? i always feel like there's something at work. >> amazon, for instance, sells its 7" tablet at a loss. they're trying to sell books, content. they're willing to take a hit on the actual hardware. apple does not do that. apple doesn't take a hit on the hardware. >> 7.9, the other tablets are 7". this is the ipad 2. it's not far from it. you're sitting here if i'm going to do the pad get the extra couple of inches, pay 50 more bucks, if you will, and resolution is not as sharp on the ipad mini as well. >> there isn't the strongest use case and apple didn't come out -- normally they'll say look at all the new things you can do. thanks to this device you can do this, where you couldn't do it before. they didn't even make that case yesterday. they said here it is. >> i haven't held it. i assume you have. can you fit it in your pocket, carry it around? >> not exactly the pocket.

maybe if you have enormous pockets. >> get the saggy pants. >> yeah, yeah. you can put it in a handbag, a clutch. >> he has a man bag. he's got one. >> a piece of the action, right? >> first kind of defensive play we've seen from apple in a while. this is the first time -- there was another product that apple said we've got to follow these guys and get in this size for the last however many years, apple has been the one that said here is the new device. this is the first time they're kind of playing catch-up. >> maybe the focus is educational group. kids at my school, they give out ipads and they're joint and they wrap them in these massive cases. if this could do the same thing for my kids at under a pound, i think that would be an amazing thing. they could do all their homework on their ipad. they carry -- it would be great. is that a use?

>> the best comparison, which you just made, is between the ipad mini and regular ipad. if i want an ipad, which one should i get? it's $70 cheaper than the ipad 2, but $170 cheaper than the new ipad 4 they just announced yesterday. if you're looking at, you know, i want a 7" tablet, i don't really care about it being apple or anybody else, that may be a harder sell. >> on the education front, the reality is folks are not buying them really for education. it's adult user. i call these adult toys, if you will. >> no, i don't think so. >> you obviously don't have a 4-year-old. >> excuse me. i've got multiple ipads for my nieces and nephews. but the point is that that's the market you're still targeting because that's the price point as well. >> education market, text bok replacements eventually. they work with textbook publisher

publishers. i think that is something they're trying to explore. >> we have conversations about that all the time at our school. i'm telling you. >> steve jobs with his not a big fan of this. >> it's hard to say. he did refer to them as tweeners, not quite iphones, not quoit laptops. there's a history of steve jobs talking trash, let's say, about new devices, that they would never build a television, for instan instance. you find, oh, they were working on that. >> is this a sign of a corporate shift since his death? >> i don't want to read those kind of tea leaves. i'm not sure. it's possible that they've been working on this before he got sick. you don't really know. i wouldn't say it's a great turning away from his legacy in building this. >> jason tanz, thanks for being with us. >> you bet. growing his hair for a good cause. ponytail right there, impressive, it's against skol policy. should they bend the rules? it's our tough call and it's up next.

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ohio teenager is getting in trouble at school because of his long hair. he is growing it for a good reason. his name is zachary aufderhide. they've required that your hair is 10" long. he is an inch away from his g l goal. canton ohio school board says long hair violates the school dress code. and they will not grant him an exemption.

when he didn't cut his hair he was punished with a two-day in-school suspension. >> silly. >> one word, stupid. please show me how growing your hair somehow is going to interfere with an educational process? >> next? >> you know, i'm kind of -- tend to subscribe to the rules are meant to be broken. >> really? look what we're learning about dana. >> wow! >> but especially in cases like this. come on. if it is true that he a's not just like wanting to grow a ponytail and using this as an excuse, let him do it. who cares? >> we can debate the rule is stupid. that's one debate. the other question is, is applying the rule stupid? it is not stupid. >> i agree with will cain. >> we can come up with 100 different great reasons to break a rule. but he broke the rule. >> i agree. >> have a debate about changing the rule but i'm sorry, buddy, you have to cut your hair, because the rule says it. >> maybe he doesn't have to cut

his hair. he got a two-day suspension. grow your hair. when you're ready, cut it off. you have paid the price for breaking the rule. that was a dress code rule. everybody should be happy, right? >> what's next, no afros, corn rows -- >> we suddenly veered -- >> no, no, no, who is the hair police? >> i don't think so. >> go ahead. >> i'm not particularly comfortable with telling people how to grow their hair. you all have very nice hair. i don't want to tell you how to style it. >> will loves his hair. he loves to flip it in. >> tmi. >> i think it's great. he's going to cut it off and it will all be settled and it will go back to whatever. >> idiotic rule. idiotic. despite earning the same degree and doing the same work to get the job, the numbers still show women earn less than men at work. by how much might shock you or might just shock me and dana. we'll talk about that. plus he's breaking his silence, victim number one in

the jerry san dsky case has a new book out. we have some details about his firsthand account. that's coming up next. (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

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new video of president obama boarding air force one this morning. davenport, iowa is his destination, battleground states with a stop at "the tonight show" in los angeles thrhrown i the middle. mitt romney picks up campaign events in denver and iowa. the nephew of robert and ethel kennedy have spent 10 years of a 20-year sentence for the bludgeoning death of his neighbor, martha moxley. testifying yesterday they were trying to protect douglas

kennedy's newborn baby last january when they tried to take the infant outside the hospital. nnedy is facing harassment and child endangerment charges for allegedly kicking one nurse and twisting the arm of another when they attempted to stop him. a new reality show featuring whitney houston's family on lifetime. it's called "the houstons: on our own. >> what her mother would want for her. >> starring bobbi kristina brown, her mother, cissy houston. a new study by the american association of women says full-time working women earn 82% of what their male peers do. one year after college, average salary for men is $42,918.

for women, $35,296, nearly an $8,000 a year difference. >> wow! what do you think that's fwr? >> if you look at the study, i was reading about this. first of all they said part of the issue is that women aren't going into more lucrative jobs, like engineering, which is a whole new issue that girls need to be better educated and pushed -- that should be opened up to them more frequently. but also that women just aren't as active negotiating their salaries as men are. which i think is true. >> so what you're are talking about, dana, when you control for major and degree and number of hours work, it's still a 7% difference twoen men and women. what accounts for that? some of it, as you said, maybe negotiating, and some of it, is there gender discrimination? >> i've seen evidence of both. a ton of women who will take whatever the first offer is and don't negotiate at all and don't necessarily know their value and women, i don't think, like to talk about how much money they're getting paid. >> absolutely. >> there's hard to get a

comparison. but also to this day it was stunning to me. listen, he's got a family. you're the wife. >> i've heard that many times. >> he's got a family. he needs to get paid a little bit more gl that doesn't explain it out of college, though, necessarily. >> but sometimes out of clemg it's you're going to go have a kid. we don't need to invest all this money in you. the guy will have a long track record. i heard that. >> really? >> yes. >> wow! >> i've heard that in the last three weeks. >> i think it's important for women, especially girls coming out of college, to know that they can talk about this and they should talk about this i definitely think it is a gender thing, that women just don't -- >> it's -- >> for all the men that have sisters, go out there and be mercinaries. i have nine nieces. they will be tough negotiators. >> that scares me. >> it scares the employer. firsthand account fm a

young man previously known only as victim number one now public in a new bok that's coming out this week called "silent no more" written with the help of his mom and his psychologist. 18-year-old aaron fisher, that's his name, he recalls years of abuse before he finally spoke out against the disgraced former penn state coach. he spoke out in an interview with bbc. >> probably there are still people out there that don't believe that jerry sandusky can do this and they might think i'm a horrible person for it. >> do you know that you're good? >> i do. but the emotions and affects of other people and actions of other people are kind of shying me away from that. >> cnn contribute or, pulitzer prize winning reporter with the patriot news, helped to first break the penn state scandal story and is referenced in this new book several times. sarah, nice to have you back

with us. we certainly appreciate it. give me your initial gut take on it. >> my initial gut take, soledad, the first few chapters was that from the beginning i've been seeing victims unrelated to this case really showing that they were inspired by victim one, by aaron fisher coming forward, launching this investigation and openly talking about what happened to him and really i've seen him come a long way in the last three years of what he was willing to say publicly and how much he was willing to go into detail even at the trial, he was really emotional on the stand. so it was really inspiring to read how open he was about his abuse. not just about the abuse, about his struggles to get to the point where he is, where he could actually write a book with his face on the cover of it. and i think that this book and what he says in the book will continue to do just that. and it is inspire other victims who are silent and who are unwilling to come forward to maybe start speaking about this. we've seen that do a great deal of good over the last year. >> i would imagine so.

a lot of the book is not written by him. 21 of the 30 chapters really are written by other people, much of it by his psychologist, michael gillam. you have said that there are some inconsistencies in mr. gillam's recounting of the story. can you walk us through some of those? >> absolutely. that was kind of the disappointment for me, that 21 of the 30 chapters are written by the psychologist and most of it is just his speculation about -- based on his experience, walking through the investigation with aaron. but it's all speculation about why the investigation took three years. and, of course, this has been a huge topic of conversation in pennsylvania, whether or not the governor, who was running for election at the time and was the attorney general prosecuting this case, whether or not he delayed the investigation until after he was elected governor, didn't want to charge sandusky over fear of this being a hot topic. a lot of the book is devoted to that topic. and i thought, you know, this is a guy that was right there, who

witnessed a lot of conversations. and, you know, this ises if nating, what he has to say. but the problem with it was he lost a lot of credibility for me. because there are a lot of things that over the last year and beyond have been public information that he got wrong in the book. now, this came out only about four months after the verdict. so it makes me wonder a little bit as a reporter if they were rushing to get it out quickly. i don't know. >> i'm going to guess. >> i did talk with mike gillam yesterday and he said that he believed there were fact checkers but i haven't heard back from the publishing company. >> i don't think it would be a big surprise if they're trying to get it out as fast as they possibly could, tied to the case, of course. six chapters fisher wrote on his own. i thought he wrote very emotionally when he was talking about when he first heard about sandusky's conviction. i'm going to read a little bit. he said i didn't pump my fist in the air or let out a cheer. instead i pulled my car on to the shoulder of the highway. i couldn't see the road in front of me anymore through the tears. i put my head down on the

steering wheel and cried. happy tears, but i was crying. you know, i just thought -- i know he had a lot of help with this, but that, to me, seemed very genuine and emotional. i thought a lot of his personality came out in this. >> absolutely. you know, this is a kid who reported this in late 2008 and kind of watched for three years as people made promises, he'll be arrested this month. he'll be arrested this summer. he'll be arrested next week. and it didn't happen over and over again. in the book he writes there was a point where they went to the fbi, the family went to the fbi, trying to get some help, thinking maybe the federal investigators could help them, but couldn't. then they considered actually going to the media and getting their story out that way because they didn't have faith he was going to be arrested. that night of the verdict, shortly after that conversation that he writes about, i talked to his mom and she said this is just a big relief. we really had no idea until this moment one way or another, we thought -- you know, we had lost so much faith and trust in people, that it could go either

way. i think that's what you're seeing in those words, is that cumila tch accumulation. >> she won a pulitzer prize. and she's wearing the same color i am today. >> it's contagious. >> salmon. >> and she won -- maybe i'm dressing like her, actually. i'll change that. still ahead on "starting point" imagine a junior high school where the geeks rule, chess players are cool. it is the subject of a new documentary called "brock lynn castle" coming up in a moment. layaway's back, right? yep, you can pay a little at a time.

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first the first time ever an african-american woman is the winner of the director's award at the sundance festival. duvernay, aacclaimed independent film make. here is the story of how she got there. >> my name is ava duvernay and i'm a black woman film maker. >> i can't believe it. ten months early. >> good news. >> great news. baby, you've got everything going for you. you're coming home. >> at this point i've made firms

that i've written. it takes a lot to make a film. it's a lot of brain power, a lot of heart. a lot of your spirit goes into these films. the framing of the shots in my films, the choices of music, the cadence and rhythm of the editing. all of that, i'm very aware, is coming through who i am. and i'm a sister. so, i wear that very proudly. i made a career change from publicist to film maker. i had a really great job as a publicist. i would be on these film sets in pain, wanting to make my own. i would be asked to work on movies that were caricatures of us, as women of color. so for me it was just really about pushing through all of that fear. >> this is like blowing my mind. >> the only thing that drove me was this idea of never to stay

still. there's something very powerful and something amazing to be said. >> my next film "middle of nowhere" we are pushing that out and excited about the life that it's having since we debuted at sundance. the fact that it's touching people and changing things, i'm really excited about that right now. i think it's really been a beautiful journey. it's all gotten me to where i am right now, a place that feels really beautiful and supportive and comfortable and fulfilled. >> who is black in america, is being black determined by the color of your skin, your family or what society says or something else all together? we'll examine that provocative question about skin color, discrimination and race. who is black in america? that is sunday december 9th at 8:00 pm eastern.

>> it's a great topic. >> so many interesting stories on both sides of that color line. they are called the yankees of chess. ahead a new documentary examines a junior high school where chess kids are the cool kids. woel meet the director and one of the students in that movie just ahead. they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪

welcome back to "starting point," a quick check of the headlines. the city of auburn is working with the postal service to find out why 1800 -- 800 rather ballots have never reach ed ther

destination. licensed to sell the big bird get-up says the big man has been so great the entire stock has sold out. google searches for the phrase big bird costume soared 600%. very big congratulations to soledad. last night her foundation soledad o'brien foundation was honored at new york women's foundation. >> where i deserve real congratulations is my children did not misbehave. >> you get credit for that? >> yes. that's called being god parenting. >> you will be in big trouble if you make a scene at this event. thank you. thank you. i want to introduce to you a very special junior high school in brooklyn, new york, where the geeks kind of rule and nerds are

considered cool. it's known around the you stits as the yankees of chess, winning 25 national chess titles. this year the school won first place in the national high school competition. new documentary is called "br k "brooklyn castle" playing in new york theaters, opening friday in los angeles. the director is katie delamajorie and one of the best players in the nation, alex. when katie was shooting this, you were the number two ranked junior high school player in the united states. before you got to school -- before you were at is 318, how much chess did you play? >> in elementary school i had a program, chess as a class. i would have it one day a week. my coach, eric hutchens, first started working with me in first grade. just the communication between the student and teacher was amazing there. turned out he live d a block awy

from me. he became part of my family. it became a subject more easier to grasp upon. >> katie, why did you think this was a great subject for the documentary? part of the reason, i know, is because of the stunning poverty of this school. >> when i discovered this 318 had the best junior high chess program in the nation, that was surprising to me. i'm from brooklyn. i didn't know that. the schools had a high percentage of poverty. it's a title one school. 30% of the families are below the poverty level. this is a story a lot of people probably don't know about. beyond the chess program tons of after-school programs are doing incredible things for the student body. it seemed like a gem of a school in a neighborhood, doing things that people -- doing unexpected, positive things. this is a positive example of public education people might want to hear about. >> and confronts those expectations that people have about kids in poverty. poor kids, they can't be successful, certainly, at chess. and poor kids, they can't necessarily be smart kids. i think people have a lot of

stereotypical misconceptions about poverty and children. >> this is a perfect example of having chess, whether it's drama, arts, and the value it brings to the education process. we often talk about just reading, writing, arithmetic, social studies, this is also valuable to education. >> right. >> do you see that, alex? >> clearly. personally for me it's helped me do much better in school. i see it in kids every day in my school. it doesn't have to be through chess. aart, music, dance. just these extracurricular activities help these kids progress. >> so, soledad said there are certain stereotypes that accompany poverty. aren't there certain stereotypes that accompany chess? they call you a nerd. is it true? are people playing chess nerds, dorks, geeks or is that a misconception? >> in the film, the principal, fred rubino says usually people who play chess are seen as a

social pariah that nobody wants to deal with. but in reality, it's nothing like that. they see it as a great success and not that many kids play chess, which is a shame, but it's just an amazing feeling to know that you do something that will eventual ly help you in th future and benefit you. >> being smart was always cool. and chess was always being smart. i don't see how it's uncool. >> i agree. >> in some schools it's not cool. to be honest where i went to school, i went to a public school in new jersey. and it wasn't cool to be smart. >> is culture different at is 318? is being a chess master really cool in ways that it would not otherwise be? >> you're big man on campus, huh? that's the deal. >> the school does a good job of celebrating chess and, as you said, being smart. banners and trophies covered in the hallways. it's the chess banners right

there with the sports teams and the school create that is culture. it makes it cool to take a different path and do something different. >> big central conflict in your film is about budget cuts. i want to play a little clip about what was happen iing at ts school. >> been hit hard by the budget kus and people down here in brooklyn have disagreed with the budget cuts that have affected the new york city school system. you guys are going to write to lentil. you guys are going to write to lopez. this is your opportunity to have your voice heard. >> talk to me about how that played out in your film. >> we started making the film, the school didn't have the kind of budget problems that it has that you see in the movie. i found out a couple of months into shooting that the school had been hit with bad budget cuts and perhaps the chess team didn't have enough money to go to national competitions. that didn't seem fair to me and obviously a story point we wanted to pursue. it was happening in schools all across the nation. and so, you know, throughout the

course of the film we follow the team kind of fight for funding and we follow the school come together and rally around this cause because it's really important, you know, that this team that is the best in the nation is working so hard, be able to compete at the highest level. >> i don't want to give away the ending but clearly, you were able to go, right? >> spoiler alert. >> i don't want to speed over what you just said. look, they put focus on sports teams. we celebrate football and basketball but not the academic achievement. >> here on "starting point" we celebrate the academic achievement. congratulations to you. nice to have you with us. "brooklyn castle." >> big man on campus. >> is the name of the documentary. "end point" is up next.

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